Requesting Legal Assistance
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation accepts requests for legal assistance from people who have had their civil rights or civil liberties violated by a government entity in Wisconsin. If your complaint arose in a state other than Wisconsin, you must contact the ACLU office in that state. To find the appropriate ACLU affiliate, click here.
To request legal assistance, you must fill out our online intake form. We are no longer accepting intakes via email or phone, and will only accept intake requests by mail for individuals who are currently incarcerated or otherwise unable to fill out the online intake form. Our online intake form allows you to submit a request for legal assistance on behalf of yourself or someone else. It also allows you to submit an informational tip about civil rights or liberties violations that you think we should investigate.
The ACLU of Wisconsin is unable to respond to all of the intake requests seeking legal help that we receive, and responses may be significantly delayed, depending on a variety of factors. You should assume that we will be unable to offer representation unless you hear otherwise from us. If we are unable to represent you or you have not heard back from us, that does not necessarily mean your case is without merit. You may wish to contact other legal organizations or a private lawyer about your case, especially if your case or issue has upcoming deadlines.
Among the issues we work on are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, privacy, discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation or disability, police misconduct, censorship in schools or libraries, access to government documents, inhumane jail and prison conditions, and other issues of fair treatment by the government.
Types of cases we generally do not accept:
- A situation where a person has been fired from a job without a good reason or just cause;
- A situation where a person is being denied benefits, such as workers’ compensation or unemployment benefits;
- Criminal cases, or complaints about a person’s attorney in a criminal case. We consider working on criminal cases only in limited instances, such as, for example, when a person is being prosecuted for engaging in activity protected by the Constitution – such as participating in a political demonstration.
- Cases that are very specific to an individual circumstance. We tend to take cases that would impact the rights of large groups of people.
- Cases with serious factual disputes. We tend to take cases that do not involve complicated disputes of fact but rather, involve questions of law regarding the applicability of statutes or the Constitution.
Important information about deadlines
All legal claims have deadlines, which depend on the nature of the claim, the type of violation, and which specific rights were violated. For some types of violations, you may need to file a notice or pursue other administrative remedies with a government agency before you can file a lawsuit. To ensure that your rights are protected, you may need to consult with an attorney promptly to find out which deadlines apply in your case. If you do not comply with the applicable deadlines, you could be legally barred from pursuing your claim in court. Contacting the ACLU to describe your problem does not mean that ACLU attorneys represent you, and contacting the ACLU does not stop the clock on these deadlines. The ACLU cannot provide you with advice about which deadlines might apply to your particular situation.
Can the ACLU give me legal advice?
If we do not accept your case, the ACLU is unable to give you advice about your case, answer questions, or provide other types of assistance specific to your case. For example, we cannot review documents or conduct legal research to assist you. This allows us to direct the necessary resources to the cases we do accept. However, we may, in certain instances, be able to provide general information or referral to other organizations or attorneys, but this depends on the specifics of the request.
Important Note:
Your communication with us by mail or email, or by submitting our intake form, does not create an agreement for us to provide you legal advice or representation. We cannot promise you that the information you provide will lead to any specific action on the part of the ACLU of Wisconsin. We cannot promise to contact you any further in response to your communication.
Please note, again, that we do not accept walk-ins.